9, King Street

A broad-fronted town house on the south side of King Street, incorporating a narrower late 17th or early 18th century house, dated 1783, with later alterations. The building is rendered in lined render with a grey slate roof.

The exterior rises to three storeys over cellars. A painted stone plinth runs across the front. The central doorway, altered in the early 20th century, has a door of six fielded panels with a leaded overlight and sidelights of obscured glass, each sidelight having a fielded panel beneath it. The door case is panelled with incised patterning on the face of each pilaster, and is topped by a hood with moulded frieze and cornice. To either side of the door is a broad 16-pane recessed sash with exposed boxes and fascia. A secondary door of two 3-board panels and 6-pane overlight stands to the east, while double doors of three flush panels with an 8-pane overlight occupy the west. At the second storey a plain band marks the floor level, above which are five recessed 12-pane sashes with exposed boxes and fascias. The third storey has three shorter 6-pane windows. A moulded cornice crowns the front elevation. A lead rainwater head and pipe on the west side is inscribed "E: TM: 1783".

The rear elevation of brown brick projects in three successive stages from the east. The eastern portion has a lean-to roof with a glasshouse added against the lower storey, two nearly flush 12-pane sashes to the second storey, and above the lean-to roof a small 6-pane attic window. The middle portion, under a catslide roof, has a 12-pane window above a fielded cross panel, a nearly flush tripartite sash of 4:12:4 panes to the second storey, and a stone-coped parapet. The western bay has canted corners, two recessed 12-pane sashes to the first storey, two tall recessed 15-pane sashes to the second storey, and a stone-capped parapet. Three chimneys rise on the rear roof slope.

Internally, the central entrance leads to a stair hall with front and back rooms to each side, flanked by the narrow halls of each secondary entrance. Rooms to the east of the entrance contain late 17th and early 18th century elements, while the hall, stair and west rooms are largely of the late 18th century, though front sashes may be earlier.

The cellar has a concreted floor with bedrock visible at the base of the rear wall. The walls are of random rubble and coursed sandstone with later brickwork, showing evidence of a former direct street access. Two chamfered beams and a lintel of oak, probably re-used, are present, along with stone steps from a lobby east of the stair hall.

The hall contains a four-leaf folding screen with Chinois patterned panels and a looped radial-bar fanlight of wood in a basket-arched opening to the stair. The west front room has a door of six margined panels in a case with broad architraves, a sash with thickish parallel-sided glazing bars with pronounced mouldings, a base panel to the embrasure and panelled shutters each with a narrow leaf folding against the jamb and a broad leaf against the wall. A chimney breast against the west wall holds a two-tier cupboard with fielded panels to the upper double doors. A plaster-skimmed tongue-stopped chamfered beam runs backward, and a cornice completes the room. The west rear room has a six-panel door, two embrasures with base panels and panelled shutters, a chimney breast against the west wall and a cornice. The secondary hall at the far west contains a boxed inner porch with a door of five panels having reeded stiles, rails and muntin, and a back door of six fielded panels.

The east front room has a splayed embrasure, a stop-chamfered bressumer to the former inglenook against the west wall, and a tongue-stopped chamfered oak beam running backward. The base is visible to the corner flue serving the rooms above. The rear east room, now the kitchen, has no visible features of interest. The secondary hall at the far east has old gudgeon hinges and iron door furniture.

The stair hall contains a door of six flush panels to the kitchen and a cellar door of three ledges on five plain braces. Panelling beneath the open-well open-string stair has shaped brackets, a curtail step and swept rail, probably of oak, on two stick balusters per step. The second storey landing has six-panel doors and a moulded cornice. The rear east room, now bathroom and WC, is accessed from the quarter-landing via four steps down, while the front rooms are reached via a short passage and three steps down. The bathroom and WC have doors of twelve and six panels, probably remade from 17th century elements. The front west room has a door of five fielded panels on L hinges, a replaced fireplace to the west, and a ceiling of three panels with two flat rectangular beams and moulded cornices. The front east room has a door of five fielded panels, a late Georgian cast-iron fireplace in a corner breast, and two tongue-stopped chamfered beams. The third storey, reached by a plain stair under a short-span roof, has three-board doors to the west and east rooms, panelled on their inner faces in two rows of three panels. The east door has four moulded braces. The roof contains purlins, one unwrought, and a cross-wall showing evidence of a former steeper roof with lower ridge.

The probable sequence of development suggests the east wing dates from 1720 or earlier, the front portion of the west wing from the mid-18th century or earlier, and the stair and rear west wing from 1783 or later.